


Promise

by Burgie



Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-23
Updated: 2019-02-23
Packaged: 2019-11-04 01:46:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17889233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: After being rudely interrupted, Jay finally gets around to what he was planning to do today. Jay belongs to SpaceUnicornDot and Willow belongs to willownorthbook.





	Promise

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SpaceUnicornDot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpaceUnicornDot/gifts), [willownorthbook](https://archiveofourown.org/users/willownorthbook/gifts).



Jay's heart still pounded, even as he watched Astor cross the road on Merlin behind the fleeing Daine and Wisp.

"Dammit, Daine," Willow muttered, a scowl marring her perfect features as she bent down and tried to repair the damaged plants using her magic. Though, Jay couldn't help but notice that Willow's scowl quickly turned to a more nurturing look, a look that held more worry, as she used her plant manipulation magic to coax the damaged plants into being healed again. Some, however, could not be saved, and these Jay mourned as Willow discarded them before she reached into the soil to grow fresh flowers in their place. Mostly snowdrops and bluebells, with a few pieces of lavender and even some posies peeking through.

"It looks even prettier now," said Jay. Willow beamed at him, the scowl finally gone. It made Jay's heart feel lighter to see it.

"Thank you," said Willow, pushing a strand of dark blue hair behind her ear. "I wish I hadn't had to regrow them at all but I guess, with those two, nothing beautiful can ever be allowed to exist." Jay knew now that Willow was only joking, and laughed with her. He'd thought that Willow and Daine hated each other at first, but he'd learned, in time, that their relationship was like that of siblings and that most hurts never lasted or went deeper than surface level. Willow was helping him to discover so much about human life, about human culture. And yes, his friends helped too, but Willow... Willow was his heart.

"They are a bit chaotic," said Jay.

"A bit?" Willow repeated. "Those two are so chaotic they make Trouble look like a saint!"

"I wouldn't go that far," said Jay, laughing.

"Anyway," said Willow, lying back and getting comfortable in the flowers beside Jay. She looked up at him, her hands resting gently over her middle. "Let's get back to our date."

"I agree," said Jay, lying back and taking one of Willow's hands in his own. He rubbed his thumb across the back of it, marveling at the smaller bones back there. Of course, his own body looked the same, but he'd once believed humans to be lesser than Pandorians. Now, though, he knew that humans were capable of great feats. Granted, some of these humans had the benefit of magic to make things easier, but he'd seen humans performing great feats of strength, singing with voices that created a perfect harmony, wrangling huge beasts. Even without her magic, Willow was still excellent with the bass and drums, instruments that Jay had never seen or heard of before coming to Jorvik. They created loud music, but the bass seemed to reverberate in his chest when Willow played it. He liked that a lot.

"What are you looking at?" Willow asked, blushing as she looked away from Jay and down at their hands.

"Just thinking about you," said Jay.

"Writing poetry in your head again?" Willow teased.

"Maybe," said Jay. Maybe he should've written a poem for this, but... maybe the poem could wait until the next question that involved a ring.

Willow's head spun at the words that Jay said so casually. Sure, she teased him, but knowing that Jay felt this way about her? Knowing that he thought about her often enough to write poetry, whole notebooks of it, knowing that he thought the world of her, that he loved her this much... it filled her with so much emotion that she could barely breathe. It almost made her brain stop functioning, when she stopped to think about how much Jay loved her.

"I love you so much," Willow murmured, burying her head in the crook of Jay's neck. Jay smiled and, next thing Willow knew, his fingers were stroking gently through her dark blue hair. She was trembling with emotion, but she could still feel a slight tremble in Jay's fingers. She raised her head, looking at him. "Jay?"

"Um, sit up," said Jay, suddenly looking as nervous as he had when they'd first begun dating, when they'd been awkward around each other and full of stammered confessions and changing confessions into sentences, when Willow had really like Jay-de and Jay had really liked Willow's beanie.

"What?" Willow asked, her anxiety spiking now as she sat up. it didn't help that Jay looked so nervous too, especially as he reached into the pocket of his nice dark grey jacket. He pulled out a ring box, and Willow froze. No. This couldn't be happening, he wasn't proposing, was he, they would've talked about this, at least discussed the idea of marriage, and sure, everyone else was getting married or planning to after Anne had been rescued, but not them, not now, she wasn't ready.

"I'm not proposing, before you get worried," said Jay.

"We're well past that," said Willow with a nervous laugh. Jay laughed with her, hoping that his laughter would comfort her. It did, at least a little.

"But it is something like that," said Jay. "But don't worry, you don't need to do anything, it's basically just... me showing you how much you mean to me. And promising you that there is a future for us, once everything's settled down and we can rest and just be ourselves."

As Jay spoke, he opened the ring box, revealing the silver band with a pale blue gem set into it surrounded by diamonds that almost made the shape of wings.

"Jay," Willow whispered, her green eyes huge. She held her hand over her mouth, trembling, eyes filling with tears.

"Willow Northbook, I love you," said Jay. "I know I tell you every day because you deserve to be loved and you deserve to know that and to hear it constantly, even if you don't always believe it or think you deserve it. And I know why you feel that way and I hate that I can't really do anything to fix that. All I can do is hope that me loving you and showing my love for you is enough. And when I was looking for ways to show you that I love you and how I love you, I found out about the concept of promise rings. It's like an engagement ring but with less expectations. We don't have to start planning a wedding right away or anything like that, it's a promise that there will be a future for us, like I said before. A promise that I will always love you. Always. Even when you don't believe it, even when you don't feel like you deserve love, I love you. And I always will. So do you... accept it?"

"Of course," said Willow, the tears overflowing. She was shaking as Jay slid the ring onto her finger, the same finger that would someday hold an engagement ring and wedding band.

"It matches your hair and dress," said Jay with a smile. Willow finally took her hand away from her mouth and grinned, eyes still gleaming with tears as she looked down at her pretty new ring, glittering in the sun. She turned her hand so that the gems would catch the light.

"I love it," said Willow, her voice tight. She couldn't stop grinning, couldn't decide whether she should look at her ring or her boyfriend. "I love it, I love you, fuck, what'd I do to deserve this?" Now she cried, though she hated to look away from her ring. But she could still feel it, could still feel everything it meant flowing through her. Was this how Daine had felt when he'd gotten engaged, how Louisa had felt when she'd gotten engaged? She'd have to ask them, when she told them. And, by Aideen, she could tell them now, couldn't she? She could tell them that she had a promise ring, tell them what it meant.

Jay wrapped his arms around Willow, drawing her close to him in a tight hug. Normally, he worried when she cried, but this time, he could tell that she was crying out of sheer happiness, that these tears weren't bad at all. How could they be bad, when Jay was crying for the same reason? From the love swelling in him, from the sheer emotion, from the knowledge that Willow loved him even though he was Pandorian, even though his home had hurt her, even after everything they'd been through. Even with her past, and the trust issues that it had garnered, Willow still loved Jay more than anyone or anything else.

"And I do want all of that with you someday, I really do," said Willow, pulling away slightly to look Jay in the eyes. "I love you so much, I want everything. I just need to know that we'll be able to have that, not just because of our relationship but- I need to know that we'll have a world to live in, that our future child will have a world to grow up in." Jay had never considered the idea of having a child with Willow before, but now, the idea appealed to him strongly. That there could potentially be a little child, part human and part Pandorian, who looked like them?

"As if we needed more to fight for," said Jay, grinning through his tears. Willow laughed and kissed him, lightly at first but then with more passion than ever before. And Jay kissed her back with equal fervour, equal passion, tasting tea on her breath, smelling the flowers that she'd lain in, smelling the floral shampoo and bodywash that she used. Willow smelled the charcoal that Jay always smelled of, the ink and paper that he often worked with as his hobby, the horses, and that unique, otherworldly scent that all Pandorians carried. But maybe she only noticed it because she spent so much time with him. Certainly, nobody else had ever picked up on it.

"This is real, right?" Willow asked when she pulled away, looking at her ring again.

"It is," said Jay, not taking his gaze from Willow for a second. "This is as real as it can be. It's as real as my love for you." Other people would have called him a sap, but Willow only looked at Jay, tears in her eyes, and hugged him a little tighter.

"Is this why you told me not to worry about today?" Willow asked when she finally pulled away from her boyfriend. She sniffled, drying her eyes from the overwhelming happiness.

"Yes," said Jay, grinning at her. Willow laughed again. She'd never felt so deliriously happy before. Heaven help her when Jay finally proposed, when they eventually got married. She'd been happy enough just to move in with Jay, though even that had been more the warm glow of cohabitation. This, though? This constant repetition of 'he loves me' made Willow feel like she could burst at the seams with happiness. She almost didn't know what to do with herself.

"I want to get up and move, do something," said Willow.

"Like dance barefoot in the grass?" Jay asked.

"Yes, but not here," said Willow. "Let's go somewhere that should be safe from oncoming idiots." 

Jay laughed and got to his feet, reaching down to help Willow to her feet. Willow's new ring flashed in the sun as she stood, a bright spark that she felt should be seen by everyone. But she didn't want to overshadow everyone else's Valentine's Day with her news, as good as it was.

Hand in hand, Willow and Jay walked back to where they'd left their horses grazing by the place that many Jorvegians called 'Spirit Hill'. Rebel raised her head, her grey ears swiveling to face her 'mother'. Beside her, Star, Jay's Soul Steed, did the same, only looking at Jay instead. Both horses knew that there was something different about their riders, though they couldn't see what it was, exactly. Star knew, though, when he checked with his special bond with Jay.

"You did it," said Star.

"I did it," said Jay through their bond. Star gave a nicker of happiness, which Rebel echoed, though she didn't know why. She also wasn't entirely sure why Willow kept staring at her hand, or why she kept staring at her boyfriend. Had something happened? She seemed happy, though, so Rebel decided that it wasn't anything bad.

And, as they rode off in the direction of Valedale, both Keepers of the Light felt as though they could burst with happiness. Despite Daine and Astor's interruption, despite everything that had happened and may yet still happen, one thing was certain- their relationship was rock solid. And it always would be, no matter what came their way. They were stronger than anything that Dark Core, even Garnok himself, could throw at them.


End file.
